Private legal practitioner, Abraham Amalibah has described frequent complaints from the special prosecutor as an action that is causing Ghanaians to lose faith in his abilities and competencies.
According to him, the regular complains from the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu are unhealthy regardless of having a sound basis. “I don’t like how Martin Amidu goes about his work. He is always talking about delays and complaining of being under-resourced”.
In as much as the learned fellow agrees complains made by the Special Prosecutor are numerous, he likes to agree that he (Martin Amidu) has been given a great task but not the required resources to get his work done.
Speaking in an interview with Happy 98.9 FM’s Sefa-Danquah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show, the lawyer said, “At the moment, we should get a spokesperson for the Special Prosecutor’s office because Martin Amidu’s frequent complains are leading Ghanaians to lose faith in him. The spokesperson will interface with the people and media so he focuses on his work.
Addressing a concern of the Special Prosecutor, Lawyer Amaliba appealed to the government to provide the office with its own investigative team instead of making the Special Prosecutor’s office rely on the CID. “If he is relying on the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) of the Police to get him investigators, then that is sad and must change. It must be done now”, he stated
In 2017, The Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, for the first time spoken openly about the challenges he faced in executing his mandate.
Parliament passed a law in November in 2017 to establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor as a specialized agency to investigate specific cases of corruption, involving public officers and individuals in the private sector implicated in corrupt practices.
But several months on, the office was yet to be fully effective after the noise that greeted the appointment of the man affectionately called ‘Citizen Vigilante’, for his anti-corruption campaigns.
On July 2019, Martin Amidu wrote about the biggest challenge facing the Office of the Special Prosecutor as an anti-corruption investigatory and prosecutorial body.
He explained that in spite of all the powers conferred upon it, it is not the President who promised the people of Ghana to establish the Office but the heads of institutions who simply refuse to comply with laws designed to ensure good governance and to protect the national purse by fighting corruption.
By: Joel Sanco